Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse: Where to Go After Joan

Beating Joan of Arc on the Roof of the Tower in Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse doesn’t send you up. It sends you a long way back down. The fight gives you the last key and a new ability, and the next goal sits at the bottom of the city, in the Abandoned Sewers.

Quick answer: Go back down the Prison Tower, breaking Chaos Shards with Holy Light (hold L2). Then cross the Burned District, Bridge of the Millers, Court of Miracles and Path of the Rat to the Gate to the Catacombs in the Abandoned Sewers.

What Joan’s first fight unlocks

Joan drops two things when the fight on the Roof of the Tower ends. A cutscene plays, and then the game gives you a new power.

The tarot card The Warrior, which carries the spell Infernal Pyre
The Warrior’s Key, an orange gem and the third of the three keys
Holy Light, the ability that clears the way down the tower

After that, a banner sets your next goal: “GET TO THE GATE OF THE CATACOMBS”. This is not your last meeting with Joan. Her second fight takes place in Notre-Dame, much later in the game. Both fights are in our Joan of Arc boss guide.

Get to the gate objective banner — The new objective banner appears right after the Joan fight and points you toward the Gate of the Catacombs. Shown at 124:35 in Shirrako’s video. Image: KONAMI

Holy Light and the Chaos Shards

Run right from the arena, go through the tower door, and head down the stairs. A Chaos Shard blocks the staircase almost right away, and a tutorial box explains how Holy Light deals with it:

Hold down [L2] to manifest a halo of light to DISPERSE THE CHAOS SHARD. Quickly press the button before being hit to perform a LIGHT PARADE that protects you from damage.

Stand at the shard and hold L2 until it breaks. You’ll find more shards further down the tower, and they break the same way. The quick-press version, the Light Parade, works as a parry against incoming hits; see how to parry with Holy Light.

Route from the Prison Tower to the Abandoned Sewers

Descend through the Prison Tower’s Torture Level, followed by its Guard Level. Expect spikes and swinging blades throughout both areas. At the foot of a drop bordered by spikes in the Guard Level, an alcove contains a chest with the Obsidian Fang relic.

Once outside the tower, make your way across the burning ground with the whip.

Head into the Burned District. In the arena room, a chest on its upper ledge contains the Shadow Veil relic. You can also find the Mirror of Life here; use it before continuing.

Keep going through the Bridge of the Millers, the Court of Miracles and the Path of the Rat. The map objective still reads “GET TO THE GATE OF THE CATACOMBS” the whole way.

Drop into the Abandoned Sewers and make your way to the Gate to the Catacombs.

Opening the Gate to the Catacombs

Walk up to the sealed gate and press INTERACT [R1]. The Warrior’s Key goes into the last empty slot, joining the other two gems, and the gate opens.

Press R1 again to go through into the Catacombs of Paris. More on the gate and its three keys: how to open the Gate to the Catacombs.

Catacombs gate opens — With the keys in place, the gate opens onto the stairs into the Catacombs of Paris. Shown at 136:39 in Shirrako’s video. Image: KONAMI

Catacombs of Paris: The new objective

You’ll know you made it when a “Catacomb Entrance” banner appears and the map objective changes to “STOP THE RESURRECTION OF DRACULA”.

To continue, locate the altar marked by a stone cross. Drop through the breakable floor past the altar with the stone cross, and keep dropping. The Catacombs path then goes through Path of the Abyss and the Quarry Elevator, followed by Charnel Galleries and De Rais Necropolis; Realm of Old Night comes next. From there, head to the Stairway to Hell for the fight with Death. The Catacombs route is in walkthrough part 3, the fight in our Death boss guide, and what comes after it in where to go after both Death fights.